There are 92 urban local bodies in Uttarakhand.

A government vehicle passes a garbage dump in Dehradun. (Vinay Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

After Uttarakhand’s dismal performance in the recent Swachh Survekshan survey, the urban development department has asked the state’s civic bodies to closely monitor and submit updates of the progress of solid waste management operations in their areas on a fortnightly basis.

The department has also asked the local bodies to finalise their waste management plans soon.

Issuing instructions to all municipal commissioners and executive officers (EOs) of municipal corporations and municipal boards/town panchayats, urban development secretary Radhika Jha has asked them to ensure that garbage disposal takes place according to the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 (which were revised by the Union environment ministry last year).

There are 92 urban local bodies in Uttarakhand.

“Commissioners and EOs should delegate officials to conduct daily inspections (solid waste operations) every morning and ensure that the waste management rules are closely followed in their areas,” Jha said.

“They (local body officials) have been asked to strictly follow instructions and ensure submission of compliance reports on a fortnightly basis to the state administration as well as the urban development directorate,” she added.

Underlining the importance of waste management rules, Jha said that local bodies were required to ensure efficient door-to-door collection and recycling of waste, the creation of by-laws for the collection of user charges, composting of biodegradable waste and penalising those found littering in public places.

“All housing societies and market complexes should develop in-house waste handling mechanism and ensure segregation of waste,” she said, asking officials to ensure the provision of badges, gloves and shoes to ‘friends of environment’ (sanitation workers).

In order to foster a healthy competition between cities for improving cleanliness standards, the ministry of urban development started the “Swachh Survekshan” survey ranking cities on cleanliness and other aspects of urban sanitation.